As the nights draw in and the new year approaches, we take stock of the state of play for European restructuring and look ahead at potential trends for 2024.
Completion of legal reforms
On 30 October 2023, HM Treasury (HMT) published three documents setting out how the UK government plans to regulate cryptoassets going forward:
HM Treasury has published a response to its consultation on managing the failure of systemic digital settlement asset firms.
The Supreme Court has handed down a judgment which will be greeted with a collective sigh of relief from the insolvency world. In R (on the application of Palmer) v Northern Derbyshire Magistrates Court [2023] UKSC 38, the Supreme Court ruled that an administrator of a company is not an “officer” of that company.
High rates of insolvencies look set to continue as the latest quarterly insolvency statistics have been published for England and Wales. Whilst the statistics show a 2% dip from the second quarter of 2023, the number of insolvencies remains 10% higher than in 2022 and shows a return to pre-pandemic levels for compulsory liquidations and administrations. It is particularly striking that the first two quarters of 2023 represent the highest quarterly insolvencies since Q2 2009.
The U.K. Jurisdiction Taskforce has published a consultation relating to its proposed Legal Statement offering guidance on the application of English insolvency law principles to digital assets. The proposed Legal Statement will cover a range of areas which are listed in an Annex to the paper.
The U.K. Financial Services and Markets Act 2023
On 29 June 2023, Mr Justice Michael Green in the High Court sanctioned a Part 26A restructuring plan proposed by First Clubs Limited (Fitness First), a wholly owned subsidiary of Maddox Holdings Limited, notwithstanding challenges from certain opposing creditors.
On 5 July 2023, the High Court sanctioned the restructuring plan proposed by Prezzo Investco Limited (theCompany) despite opposition from HMRC.
In yet another major restructuring in the Netherlands, the Dutch Court confirmed a restructuring plan under the Dutch Act on Court Confirmation of a Private Restructuring Plan (WHOA). The public restructuring of the Steinhoff Group (Steinhoff) was approved by the Amsterdam Court on 21 June 2023, only seven days after the confirmation hearing.